UST ‘lacked heart’ in loss to Ateneo

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

University of Santo Tomas’ pregame shirt tells what the Growling Tigers are made of.

The phrase “No Heart No Chance” is more than just a statement on the players’ shirts. It’s UST’s battlecry in a season where the team entered only as an afterthought.

Fast forward to nine games, the Tigers stood at the top the UAAP mountain while being labelled as the “Comeback Cats” for winning games where they faced big leads — situations in which most teams would’ve folded.

That though, wasn’t the case on Wednesday night.

“We lacked the heart,” said UST head coach Bong dela Cruz after an 80-74 loss to Ateneo in a game where the Tigers again fell behind early but only this time, they failed to complete a comeback.

Dela Cruz had the same yellow shirt that his players wear heading into every game and during shootaround. But his had the “heart” part covered up to show that they played the game without it and lost.

A win would’ve been UST’s ninth — enough to clinch the first Final Four berth. But the Tigers had no chance against the Blue Eagles Wednesday night.

“See this? We didn’t have this,” said Dela Cruz as he pointed to the shirt.